1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to computer networks. More particularly, the field of the invention relates to a computer network which connects a content delivery server and a personal computer.
2.Background Information
A content data provider is a company that creates or transmits digital content, e.g., music, games, software utility, and advertisements. To be a successful content data provider it is necessary to obtain customer awareness with respect to the company itself, as well as to the content data provider's products.
To achieve this awareness, the content data provider may rely upon one of several known advertising mediums. Historically, there have been a number of advertising and distribution channels to promote digital content. For example, maintaining a website, direct mailing, and renting billboards are each alternative forms of advertisement that may be relied up to further promote brand recognition and other promote other advertising. Of recent advent, content delivery networks have been developed to deploy promotional materials. However, as is discussed below, each of these forms of advertisement has associated limitations and drawbacks.
With respect to direct mail campaigns, many users never open, use, or install promotional CD packages that are sent. Another problem with direct mail campaigns is that due to the lack of ability to obtain feedback, it is difficult to gauge the successfulness of such campaigns.
Problems with billboards include: (i) the can be costly; (ii) there is no guarantee that individuals will see the billboard when driving by; (iii) it is difficult to determine the number of individuals that viewed the advertisement; and (iv) self evidently, there is not an “interactive” experience between the user and the billboard.
Recently, content delivery networks have been developed to transport the content data of others. The providers of content delivery network license others the right to store promotional materials on the network. The content delivery network can include either a website on the Internet or, alternatively, a client program that runs on the user's personal computer and that periodically receives content data from a content data server. An example of latter is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 5,913,040 to Rakavy, et al.
However, one problem is that, depending on the type of network, consumers need to take an affirmative step of either downloading software to view information provided by the content delivery network, or, alternatively, navigate to the content delivery website that is provided in the network. Thus, as in maintaining a website, other forms of advertisement are required to promote consumer's user of the content delivery network.
Using the Internet, a content data provider can maintain a website whereby users can directly download and view advertising materials on their personal computer. However, one disadvantage of advertising on the Internet is that consumers need to know about the existence of the content data provider's website. In this regard, the content data provider needs to advertise its website or rely on search engines to provide the user with the Internet address of the user's company. Furthermore, to access the website the consumer needs to take an affirmative step and “navigate” to the web site. The term navigate is often referred to as the process of accessing a selected web page on the Internet. Disadvantageously, if the user never navigates to the content data provider's website, the content data provider is never given the opportunity to sell its products.
Thus, computer network providers are in need of an advertisement and distribution channel that allows them a guarantee that their content data can be received by a large number of personal computer users.
One embodiment of the invention comprises a method of establishing a connection between a personal computer system and a content delivery server. The personal computer system includes a computing subsystem and a disk drive. The method comprises providing a network address for the content delivery server and providing a server-contacting program. The network address and the server-contacting program are then stored in the disk drive. Firmware is installed in the disk drive to initiate execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system. Upon execution, the server-contacting program uses the network address to connecting the personal computer system with the content delivery server.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a computer network. The computer network comprises a content delivery server having a network address and a personal computer system comprising a computing subsystem and a disk drive. The disk drive comprises a network address, a server-contacting program, and a disk controller circuit. The disk controller circuit initiates execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system. Upon execution, the server-contacting program uses the network address to connect the personal computer system with the content delivery server.